Off-road / gravel / mud fixed-gear bikes (whisper: tracklocross)

Yes, we are based in Hong Kong.

When the CX season start, both front and rear end fit 700c x 40 with ease.

Rowdy. What's the case for a custom carbon fork? I guess it could be lighter without needing to be built with a disc brake mount.

Very close, 100x9mm dropout ,hidden disc brake mount, hidden cable routing and rack mounting hole at the dropout.

late to the party. recognise the first bike - Hollow Legs? Watched all the vids on youtube. great stuff :-)

I'm building a fixed gravel bike at the min, wondering what the vibe is with wide mtb bars? I like the ones with almost no rise, but how wide?? Any recomendations?

I dunno if it’s because I don’t really ride any geared bikes but my favourite thing about my fixed gravel bike is that it isn’t useless on the road.

Like, I’d ride my ssmtb more but it’s just such a chore to get anywhere on it

To that end I probably would want to go too wide in the bars. I’m currently using some Planet X bullmoose bars on mine and I really like them. Good for the aero tuck on the road sections.

I think there's a lot of personal fit and preference involved. If it were me, I'd buy some super wide bars and a hacksaw :)

That looks like loads of fun.

good point, I see people riding wide bars in town and I cant understand how they manage it. I would be commuting on mine mostly, so def something to keep in mind.

yeah big fan of bullmoose bars!

Super wide bars are definitely slightly less useful in traffic situations but they make the handling less twitchy and you get more leverage on the front wheel.

I went wide (700mm) on my fixed commuter with the expectation of cutting them down but never did. No issues with traffic and it made daily riding much more enjoyable. Track grips are quite useful as they allow me to go wide for hilly/bumpy sections or narrower for windy days.

Shameless plug but I have some nice Spank Vibrocore bars for sale which have some damping for rougher surfaces and definitely smoothed out the ride on my alloy track bike!

Anecdotally super wide bars have meant fewer close passes for me. I guess the 40cm wide object is far easier to squeeze past than the 77cm wide object. I also spend a lot more time just riding on the other side of the road instead of going for tight gaps because of them which feels safer.

excellent advice all, thank you very much!

Started converting my commuter.
Longer stem, bigger chainring, new fork next

1 Attachment

Currently in the process of converting my pre-cursa to a ss off-road gravel/ touring/ do everything machine. Running fixed right now whilst i sort my disk brakes. The idea was to go double disk and run a freewheel eventually. Reading further up the thread it seems running a disk on a fixed hub is problematic, my intention was to use one of these thread on adapters on the standard track hub, will it work???

3 Attachments

Are you going to weld a disc brake mount onto an alloy Pre Cursa frame?
Is that a good idea or advised?

lol no. Im using a £5 ebay adapter. Now back to my inital question...

1 Attachment

Running a rear disc brake on a fixed with sliding dropouts and proper mounts is a total pain in the arse. I can only imagine what a whole world of pain you are about to inflict upon yourself.

The problem is that as soon as your hub moves in the dropout then the calliper and the rotor will not be aligned. Sub-optimal doesn't even begin to describe it I'm afraid.

Yes but he mentioned that it would be freewheel? using the track threads for the disc break adapter or?

As above, will be running freewheel. I think for the sake of the cost i'll just try it. Using chain tugs and a proper tighten of the nuts i can't imagine the hub moving in the dropouts. I'll happily inflict a world of pain upon myself, they say the same about riding fixed brakeless...I just wonder if the adapter will fit the threads thats all haha

Made some more tweaks, I am kind of shocked how much downsizing from 47s to 42s have made this more fun to ride

1 Attachment

Using chain tugs and a proper tighten of the nuts i can't imagine the hub moving in the dropouts.

The wheel moving accidentally is not the problem, it's when you want to adjust the chain tension or remove the wheel to fix a puncture then have to put it all back together again and get it all in the right place.

The adapter will fit the threads fine. Presuming you buy the right one, the one I have fits freewheel threads fine.

That caliper adapter though...>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Should have been more specific; using track dropouts is what causes the problem not running fixed.

Now I'm with ya, I see how that could be a pain. Fairplay then, less than ideal but worth a shot purely for the crack (pun unintended). As for the caliper adapter I'm sure there are better alternatives out there, but this is literally an experiment just for fun. My thinking is to use the rear only as a backup to make the single speed safer. The abuse the bike has/will receive will outweigh the stress of the braking force anyway lol.